MILWAUKEE, Wis. – A sports bar and lounge planning to open in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood receives a key approval.
The City Licenses Committee recommended approval of a food and beverage license for “Diaspora MKE” January 27, while removing an application for a public entertainment license in favor of individual event permits. The business run by Omega Psi Phi fraternity brothers Marvin Bailey, Brian Bradford, Roberthenry Davis and Mike Johnson would operate in the space formerly occupied by Company Brewing (735 E. Center Street) prior to their 2024 closure, and Onopa and Stonefly Brewing before that.
The application for the new business was launched in September of 2025, and has been met with resistance from neighbors on various fronts since then. The biggest points of contention have been the inclusion of an active-duty Milwaukee Police officer as an owner in the business, as well as Bailey’s business past at Flame 13, an establishment on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive that shut down last September following a large brawl outside the business during an influencer event in July…